


[Meta] Story love, body love, performance love

by greedy_dancer



Category: Fandom - Fandom, Podfic Fandom, Podfic Meta - Fandom
Genre: Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Gen, Podfic, Podfic Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22771660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greedy_dancer/pseuds/greedy_dancer
Summary: A repost of my 2012 meta, originally written on Dreamwidth for the "Feedback" day of Pod-Aware 2012.I kept thinking about this and starting lists of all the things I like in feedback, but then I realized they all came back to the same idea: Tell me you liked my SKILLS.There are two ways I can think of to do that: distinguishing my reading from the writing, and distinguishing my skills from my body.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8
Collections: A Guide To Audio Fanworks





	[Meta] Story love, body love, performance love

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reposted-for-safekeeping copy of the meta I wrote for the "Feedback" theme of Pod-Aware 2012, originally posted on [Dreamwidth](https://greedy-dancer.dreamwidth.org/646571.html). 
> 
> 2012 was a long time ago, so some of the (personal) views expressed here might seem a little dated--I've definitely mellowed out about kudos and love them unconditionally, for example. This is a historical artifact at this point, but I think some of the distinctions I made still hold up.
> 
> This post was discussed in an interview on [the Feedback episode](https://www.auralphonic.podfic.com/?podcast=auralphonic-004-feedback) of the Auralphonic podfic podcast in 2015. If you're interested in different perspectives about giving/receiving podfic feedback, check out the episode!

A few months back, someone on my Twitter feed asked the following question: “What kind of feedback are podficcers looking for?” and I thought I would use the response I gave then to write out some of my thoughts about feedback as it relates to my experience in Podfic Fandom. I want to make it clear that I am speaking for myself here, and that my intent is not to criticize the way some people leave feedback; it is simply to detail my thoughts and why they inform the way I react to some of the particulars of feedback. Maybe some of you are interested in my perspective!

**

The very first thing, and I think it's something that is starting to be more well known now, is that **getting ANY feedback at all is already a pretty big deal for me as a podficcer.**

There are many legitimate reasons why leaving feedback on podfic is harder – be they logistical or personal reasons – and even podficcers are not always on top of their feedback, myself included! As a result, podfic feedback is extremely rare – at the time of the Twitter convo, my most-downloaded podfic (around 650 downloads) had a 3% feedback rate, counting both kudos (5) and comments (8, including 1 which was a “I'm downloading” comment and 1 which was actually about the cover and not the podfic itself.)

 _[Note from 2020: Comments on covers are excellent! Please feel free to comment on my coverart even if you do not listen to the podfic :D Just make sure that, you know, I actually did the coverart, and not someone else who might never know how much you liked their cover unless you tell *them*!]_

So I wanted to start by emphasizing that I appreciate every single piece of feedback I get, no matter how belated, how short, or how awkward or inadequate the listener might feel their feedback was when they left it. There are types of feedback that I prefer over other types (for example, kudos, while they invariably make me smile, leave me slightly frustrated because I can't be sure of what they mean – is it notice that someone downloaded the podfic, or listened, or liked?) but ultimately, I appreciate feedback in all its forms – comments and kudos, but also email or DM or tweet or rec. I just love knowing that there are listeners behind my download numbers, and that those listeners actually enjoyed my work.

 _[Note from 2020: Over time, I have fully learnt to Stop Worrying and Embrace the Kudos! But I can't lie, a comment still gives me that little extra thrill. Also: kudos on old works are always awesome! This is not Instagram, no fan creator is going to think less of you if you're 'stalking' our old works and leaving feedback, on the contrary!]  
_

Now, if you are a listener who is comfortable with leaving feedback and you want to hear thoughts on how to leave the feedback that will make me happiest, here are some ideas. Remember: they're more like guidelines than actual rules :p

**

I kept thinking about this and starting lists of all the things I like in feedback, but then I realized they all came back to the same idea:

 **Tell me you liked my SKILLS.**

 **There are two ways I can think of to do that: distinguishing my reading from the writing, and distinguishing my skills from my body.**

**1\. Reading and writing**

Sometimes podficcers get comments that emphasize the pleasure the listeners felt (or the anticipation they feel) because the fic that was recorded is one of their favourites. That is AWESOME. I podfic because I loved the story, because I wanted to share my love of the story; podficcing is reccing. So knowing that other people love the story as much as I do, or got to love the story through my performance of it is always a thrill; it means I have made the right choice, it means I have accomplished my first goal of spreading my love for the fic.

However, when a comment _only_ mentions the fic, it can feel like the feedback is directed to the wrong person. I didn't write the fic, the writer did. The part of the podfic that is _mine_ is the voice and the acting, but the plot isn't my work and I can't take credit for it. The characterization can be influenced by my reading but overall it isn't mine either. _[Note from 2020: I would rephrase that now to "isn't wholly mine," because I think in some cases, the podficcer really influences characterization. It depends on how much is explicit on the page and how much is left to interpretation, and even then, two podficcers will read "stage directions" in a very different way.]_

Comments such as “I know I'm going to love this podfic because I love this story!”, or “Yay, I can finally listen to this story everywhere!” are rewarding, because I know I made someone happy! They are an acknowledgment of my reccing skills, fic choice, and of the fact that I took the time to make a recording. (Also, that I didn't botch a well-loved story, which is obviously the opposite of what I want when making a podfic! lol) But if that is the only sentence in the feedback, it doesn't actually mention anything that is _mine_.

Now, I'm absolutely not saying that feedback should not mention the story – as I said, a mutual love for the story is probably what unites me and the listener in the first place. But if you are writing a comment to the podficcer _only_ praising the story's plot, you might want to leave that feedback for the writer instead, since that is their part of the work that went into the podfic. Choosing the right story is important, but most of the podficcer's work went into the recording – including the editing! Voicing the characters, imbuing the scenes with meaning, bringing out what is funny or moving or sad or hot about the words the writer wrote, removing potential obstacles to the listener's enjoyment of the auditory experience, maybe adding music or effects to make that experience as pleasant or exciting or challenging as possible – that is the part of the work that I feel is mine, and that's the part that I appreciate comments about the most.

Of course, there are ways to comment about _both_ story and reading, for example:

> “Your reading reminded me of what I like about this story”  
>  “Your performance serves the writing”  
>  “The pacing brought out the funny/moving moments”  
>  “Your performance made me see this [line/scene/character] in a different way”  
>  “I'm glad you recorded this story because I enjoy your podfics and this is a favourite story of mine”  
>  etc.

The point that I am making here is informed by a greater debate/struggle by podficcers about the significance of our contributions to fandom as more than “screen readers” or “providers of a format shift/service to the author/readers”. **By explicitly giving the podficcer's voice and performance space in your praise for the podfic, you are saying that you recognize the existence and importance of that contribution** , and making your podficcers very, very happy! :)

 **2\. Skills and body**

Once you have differentiated between writer and podficcer, the second thing that I want to underline is that, in my opinion, **there are two different things that belong to the podficcer and that go into making podfic: their bodies, and their skills.**

 **What I call “body” is my voice and my accent.** Those are part of me; [there’s been meta on podfic and bodies before](https://pinboard.in/u:greedy_dancer/t:meta/t:podfic-and-bodies/) so I’m not going to get into much detail here. My point is that it's much harder for me to alter my voice and accent than it is for me to alter my writing style or spelling.

 _[Note from 2020:_ _I_ _don't know about this following paragraph anymore. My understanding of gender has evolved a lot and I wouldn't write now that there even *is* such a thing as "sounding like a man," plus editing software has also come a long way. Nor do I believe that "Japan-picking" a story is really possible, or that you must have a recognizable accent to "appear Japanese in podfic." That example was poorly chosen.]_

~~If I wanted to write “like a man” it would probably be feasible (mostly because I don't think there is really such a thing as writing "like a (wo)man"??). I'm not sure it would be feasible for me to actually make my voice sound like a man’s voice in podfic. Similarly, if I wanted to appear British or Japanese in fic, I could get someone to Brit/Japan-pick fairly easily; if I wanted to appear British or Japanese in podfic, it would be a much more arduous and time-consuming endeavor, and it would probably fail, too.~~

 _[2020 version: Literature abounds with examples of authors who wrote/write pseudonymously and successfully disguised their gender. Generally speaking, I think a writing voice might be much more malleable and easily edited than a speaking voice, at least for those of us who are not gifted voice actors/accent coaches and audio editors.]_

What I'm trying to say here is that my voice and my accent are parts of myself that I can't do much about.

There are two sides to that particular coin: if you don't like my voice or accent, well, that's too bad. I can't change them for you _,_ and I would prefer not to get any comments on that because you would be criticizing my body.

 _[Note from 2020: it's funny reading this now, because my actual accent has shifted a LOT since I wrote these lines. And yet, I still get commenters now who tell me I sound "so French," just like they did when I was a baby podficcer... So I guess the point stands: if you don't like my accent, I can't really get rid of it. And if I could, I wouldn't want to!]_

If you like my voice and accent and let me know in your comment, I’ll be flattered and pleased that you think my voice is pleasant and my accent does not prevent you from enjoying the story, or maybe actually adds to your enjoyment of the story. However, as I said, **there isn't much I can do about my voice and accent. They are, mostly, who I am and not what I did.**

If the only thing you mention in your feedback of my podfic is that you like my voice, you are complimenting me, of course, but you are complimenting me on something I’m not doing on purpose; something I feel I have no merit for. To use a probably quite flawed comparison, it would be like a person I went on a date with telling me “I like you because I find you attractive”: it’s nice to hear, of course, but I’d rather be liked for my intellect and humour than for my looks only :p

  * **A personal note about my accent:** not being a native English-speaker, I do think that my ability to speak English is a skill. But, for one thing, in the case of podfic I'm most likely reading someone else's words so the English isn't actually mine, and for another **comments about accents are rarely about how _good_ my English is. They are about how _different_ my accent is from other English-speakers'.** Now, this is a fraught area for me personally; I know French accents can be considered cute or sexy, so telling someone they sound “so French” is probably meant as a compliment. However, because of my personal history, I mostly don't enjoy being told I sound French - sounding French is not something I strive for, it's something that got me in trouble in school and that I actively work to try and minimize when speaking English. When I think of typical French speakers I think of people whose English is infamously bad and hard to understand, whose accent is laughable. I'm glad most people who hear me speak English can't pinpoint exactly where I'm from. I know I have an accent, of course; I'm not saying people should pretend I don't, or pretend they don't enjoy it if they do. _[Note from 2020: *EVERYONE* HAS AN ACCENT!!!! The only people who think you "don't have an accent" are the people who have the same accent as you!]_ I like being told listeners enjoy my accent and find it intriguing, soothing or even exotic! God knows there's enough accent insecurity out there in Podfic Fandom, so reassurance that one's accent is not off-putting is always welcome. It's just not the thing I am most proud of, or the thing I want people to notice over all others, or the thing I want to be known/remembered for, because mostly, I don't view my accent as a skill, I view it as an imperfection (and if you know one thing about me, it might be that I am a perfectionist :p) Obviously, other podficcers might have very different opinions about this issue, and take pride in their accents/value them over all other things etc. So my conclusion would be that listeners be aware of the possible implications of their comments when mentioning accents and use their best judgment when leaving feedback.



**Now, there are things that go into my reading that are _not_ related to my body: there’s my performance choices (my acting, my interpretation choices, the voices I give the characters) and there’s my editing choices (pacing, noise removal, all the technical aspects that go into making the file as smooth and clean as I can, the effects or music I add, etc). Those are things that I personally put a high value on.** They are what I’m most proud of, and what I wish people would notice.

  * **An aside on editing: editing is actually a very tricky thing to comment on, because it’s mostly an invisible skill.** When listeners hear a coherent reading, no mistakes, no loud background noises that distract from the story, they might take it for granted; as some people who don’t know much about podfic like to repeat, "what’s so hard about reading?" Actually, even getting to that stage might have taken me hours and hours and HOURS of editing, and that's before we even get into noise reduction or adding effects or music. Aside from removing all the outright mistakes, I might have had to paste sentences from different takes together to create the perfect emotional sequence; I might have had to cut and paste a name taken from an entirely different scene because I said the wrong one in all my takes of this scene; I might have had to splice together two syllables from different takes of the word because each take was mispronounced in a slightly different way or get rid of awkward breaths that cut up the flow of a sentence. In any case, if I did these right, the listener is never going to notice and thus won’t be able to comment on it, even though for me it’s probably what was the longest, most difficult part of the podficcing process, and one I take a lot of pride in.



Again, as with story choice, I’m not saying you should never comment on the podficcer’s voice/accent/body; I’m saying that personally, they’re not the aspects of my work that make me glow the most when they are noticed. The comments that make me happiest are about my acting - if I conveyed the emotions in a scene well, if I managed to get the aspects of the story I love across to the listener, if maybe I managed to change their opinion of a character or scene or story with my interpretation; if I made them smile or cry (or fan themselves! :p) with my performance. They are also comments about my editing - pacing, consistency of reading, background noise, general quality of the file, effects or music if I added them etc.

All the particular circumstances of my personality, culture and history that make me _me_ lead to the fact that **what makes me feel most rewarded is the idea that my hard work was noticed and appreciated**. This might not be the case for other podficcers, but that's how it works for me!

To conclude, I would say that **the perfect piece of feedback, for me, would be one that mixes the three aspects I mentioned here: story love, body love, performance love.**

An added bonus is the listener mentioning how they reacted to the story and in what circumstances they listened to it: knowing that you made someone laugh, or cry, or that you gave someone comfort or that you kept them company during a difficult time is AMAZING. So is knowing that someone might put the podfic in a playlist to be listened to again, or that the podfic has been listened to a lot already.

While I was writing this, I actually received a piece of feedback that is pretty much PERFECT to illustrate what I was talking about, so I’m copying it here:

> Hey, I just wanted you to know that I downloaded the podfic onto my iPod and was listening to it while walking around my neighborhood, and I must've looked crazy 'cause I was smiling to myself while walking along! _[Circumstances & effect on listener!]_  
>  This is probably my favorite Loki/Thor fic, _[Story choice love!]_ and the way you read it was really really well done - you put the right inflection in at the right times, and the emotion was really great, _[Performance love!]_ and not to mention your accent is lovely~ _[Body love!]  
>  _All in all, you did great justice to a great work. _[YAY I didn’t botch the story!]_ Congratulations! _[WHEE!]_

**

I hope this was interesting to some of you! I am happy to discuss if you have comments.

Remember, this is not a recipe for How to Leave the Perfect Piece of Podfic Feedback Always. I'm not talking for other podficcers here, though I imagine some of the things I mentioned here might apply to others as well! They're hopefully a starting point for those who want to think about these questions. And when in doubt, you could always ask your favourite podficcer what aspect of their podfics being mentioned will bring the biggest smile to their faces, and go with that! :D

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podmeta] Story Love, Body Love, Performance Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24408904) by [Annapods](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annapods/pseuds/Annapods)




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